The Sociopath-Serial Killer Connection

Attendees at a national symposium on serial homicide conducted by the FBI in 2005 concluded that there is no definitive cause and no generic profile of a serial killer (1). Experts at the symposium concluded that serial killers vary greatly in their motivations and behavior.

However, the attendees did identify certain traits that are common among serial murderers such as sensation seeking, a lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, the need for control and predatory behavior. These common traits of serial killers have been linked to certain antisocial personality disorders, including sociopathy.

In addition, sociopaths tend to be nervous and easily agitated or angered. They are volatile and prone to emotional outbursts, including fits of rage.

Sociopaths are likely to be uneducated and typically live on the fringes of society. They are often unable to hold down a steady job or stay in one place for very long. They are frequently transients and drifters.

It is difficult but not impossible for sociopaths to form attachments with others. They are capable of bonding emotionally and demonstrating empathy with certain people in certain situations but not others. Many sociopaths are able to form an attachment to a particular individual or group, although they have no regard for society in general or its rules.

Significantly, in the eyes of others, sociopaths will appear to be very disturbed.

Sociopathy is thought to result from one’s environment. That is, sociopathy is believed to be a product of childhoodtrauma and abuse rather than being an in-born characteristic.

Because sociopathy appears to be learned rather than innate, sociopaths are capable of empathy or forming an emotional connection with others but only to certain individuals such as a family member or friend and only in certain circumstances.

Any crimes committed by a sociopath will tend to be haphazard or spontaneous. A sociopath who becomes a serial killer will most likely conform to the FBI’s disorganized category of serial predator. Jack the Ripper offers a classic example of the volatile, spontaneous, and disorganized serial killer.

According to the FBI, disorganized crimes are not planned, and the offenders typically leave evidence such as fingerprints or blood at the scene of the murder. There is often no attempt to move or otherwise conceal the corpse after the murder (2).

As explained by Peter Vronsky in "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters," disorganized criminals have a number of common characteristics. They may be young, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or mentally ill. They often have deficient communication and social skills and may be below average in intelligence.

In addition, the disorganized offender is likely to come from an unstable or dysfunctional family. Disorganized offenders often have been abused physically or sexually by relatives. They are often sexually inhibited, sexually uninformed, and may have sexual aversions or other pathologies. They are more likely to be compulsive masturbators.

They are often isolated from others, live alone, and are frightened or confused during the commission of their murders. They often do not have reliable transportation, so they kill their victims close to home. .

Significantly, disorganized killers will often “blitz” their victims—that is, use sudden and overwhelming force to assault them. The victim’s body is usually left where the attack took place, and the killer makes no attempt to hide it. Jack the Ripper, for example, left his victims’ mangled corpses on the open street, exactly where he confronted them.

The serial killer known as “Charlie Chop-Off ” because of his penchant for genital dismemberment, is a more recent example of the disturbed disorganized killer. Charlie randomly killed young boys in blitz attacks in New York City in the early 1970s (3).

Most research I have reviewed on the topic of "sociopathy", the researchers/authors involved in the studies have typically profiled Sociopaths as much more controlled by comparison to Psychopathic individuals, citing research done studying the expression variant of MAOA, known as MAOA-L, as the likely genetic predisposition to violence and aggression in the latter.

Also taking into account cultural influences on subsets of individuals with ASPD...how much variation in behavior could we be expected to observe between these individuals due to the influence of social norms, religious convictions, or higher education?

I knew a girl who SEEMED pretty normal up to the age of
20, then the bottom dropped out. She began a course of
wild, unruly behavior. She lied, stoled, and sleept
around. Her actions led to the accidental death of another
person.
Given that she was not always this way, did she "catch"
Sociopathy like one catches a cold?

"Why We Love Serial Killers"
*I love who done its & why they done it.
[ Of course you do realize, that it was the buttler in every instance - it was always the buttler ]
It was watching the idiot box too much in childhood, that done it to me man !
A sense of discovering what was wrong & working out how to fix it.

"Psycopaths are unlikely to be educated & typically live on the fringes of society. They are often unable to hold down a stead job, or stay in one place for very long. They are frequently transient & drifters"

Like minds connect - this is true of everyone.
Haphazard, spontanious - killing gets one caught qiickly & it is devoid of foreplay.

"disorganuized crimes are not planned"
Vronsky say .........
* a junky off his head kills his girlfriend because she will not shut up.
* a junkey off his head kills his mother because she is an easy kill.
* a junkey off his head kills the postman because he bring bills & infringments.
So he goes out & waits for him in the street & when he arrives he kills the sucker.
In the local bar some blind bitch knocks him & causes his drink to spill - & over his jeans - he waits for her to leave - follows & stabs her 10 times for the 10 bucks the drink & the laundromat cost ...... wait a moment please .... this act was slightly planned & this perpetrator got caught on his first kill.

What are Thrills:
fear
confusion & fear & the courage to act inspite of them.
a sense of disregard of the constraints a breaking out of your designated matchbox in life.

" they are more likely to be compulsive masturbators"
Oh God, are we still doing this - touch yourself once & you are a sinner - do it again & you are a psychpath.
Sexual arousal happens - climb a high ladder & the fear of doing so will cause arousal.
*** Oh how jolly ! - yet another thrill.
Is it a case of making the case fit the theory as opposed to discovering how this weirdo actually works.
Look, the police forces are under staffed / under trained / under qualified / under funded / & over worked - we can't expect miracles.
To avoid / avoidance - feign ignorance at all times - it helps enormously & it flatters the stupid cops who should have caught you in the first instance & not 15 corpses later.
Playing for sympathy & deminished responsibility.
Jack The Ripper was a thrills performer - like the magician who saws the lady in half.

Back to the top of the page - fringe dwellers - living in the environment of atmosphere - bohenia, exotic reputation - SoHo - Greenwich Village.
They work, not regular jobs, their job/s lends itself to how they are & what turns them on.
Once you kill someone get out fast - the next kill-thrill is waiting & the cops are left looking in the wrong place.
Ha, ha, ha, he, he, ha, ha .......... !

The will to live is a psycologial force to fight for survival seen as an important & active process of conscious & unconscious reasoning. This ocurres particularily when ones own life is threatened by a sense of injury / disease.